SkyFall (Taken on the Wing Book 2) (4 page)

Before I send her to her death.

Damn, what do you tell your grand-dame
who thought she knew everything about your personal life?

“
Who says I haven
’
t pursued her?
”
Soar remarks and Sky raises an eyebrow,
demanding more.
“
If I asked she would have
walked away from her dream to stay with me so I ended it. I hurt her,
grand-dame, and when she learns what I did to her today she
’
ll never speak to me again.
”

“
Indeed,
”
Sky mutters, her voice
betraying both worry and anger.
“
In three months, Master Soar,
you will assume the position of apology in my sparring chamber and I assure
you, whichever pieces Cloud has left you with will be mine
.”

Cloud
’
s frustrated growl reaches Soar long
before he gets to the covered opening to her den.

“
No,
no, no,
”
she mutters then her voice
fades as he takes a couple of noisy steps to get her attention. Even so upset,
she should know better than to draw attention to herself.

Soar pushes past the curtain to find her
kneeling amongst her scattered belongings. She spins, mouth half open, and
whitens before returning to packing.

“
Just when my day couldn
’
t get any worse,
”
she jams a handful of underwear into the
bottom of her worn pack with such force her hand bursts through the bottom.
“
Do you have to stand so close?
”

He stands all the way across her small
den, maybe a dozen feet away, and isn
’
t
close at all. Cloud shakes her bag empty before lining the bottom with a shirt,
carefully spreading it so the weight of her clothes will keep it in place over
the hole.

Then she starts refilling the bag.

She
’
s not over me,
he realizes and all he wants
to do is take back the last hour of her life but he can
’
t. Cloud is his last chance to protect
their home.

“
Where are you going?
”
Soar
asks.

“
Not a word in three years and he pretends
he cares where I
’
m going,
”
she
snaps.
“
If it
’
s any of your darn business I
’
m going to spend a raunchy weekend in Memphis with your brother.
”

Soar modulates his voice so it won
’
t penetrate the curtain to be overheard
in the tunnel but it
’
s hard. The idea she
’
d gloat about being with anyone else
speaks to how angry she still is and if she means to lash back it
’
s working.

“
Even if I wasn
’
t in Sky
’
s den when she heard where Falcon
’
s knife was you
’
re still the worst liar I
’
ve ever met.
”

She shrugs as the pile of clothes around
her gets smaller.
“
What the heck did you do to
your hair?
”

Soar ignores the bait since she knows
damn well it
’
s been short for years.

“
You wouldn
’
t have done it, Cloud.
”

“
Of course I wouldn
’
t have taken that royal
hatchling
’
s
stupid knife,
”
she says, her voice
matching his tone for privacy.

“
Then why didn
’
t you tell Sky that?
”

Cloud turns and looks at him like she
’
s only just noticed him in the door.

“
I let myself be set-up, Soar. My Master
believes I stole because of my own stupidity. I was inattentive and brought
failure on myself. Double failure, today of all days."

Beneath her jeans, her tail is already
drawn in and she wrings a shirt she can pull over the light tunic she wears to
travel.

“
You know who set you up?
”

“
I am one hundred percent certain.
”

“
And?
”

He can
’
t read her expression as she stands and
drops the shirt on her bag. For a moment he thinks she
’
s on to him already. Her anger with
herself has turned into something feral and tenuous that could turn on him just
as well as she could turn it inward. Damn it, even if she hadn
’
t just been expelled for theft, her
humiliation over her failure against Sky is more than enough to upset her.

He hasn
’
t spoken this much to her in three years
so her confusion about him can only add to her pain.

“
Falcon,
”
she says.
“
Royal
jerk's been getting too touchy with the females and after he cornered me to
experience his attentions I
accidentally
broke two of his fingers the
next time Sky paired us.
”

“
Damn it, Cloud. You should have gone to
Sky,
”
he hopes to sound like he
’
s giving her a lecture although inside he
’
s proud of her. Had Hunter known about
Falcon? Soar
’
s impressed with his kid
brother. He couldn
’
t have picked a better mark
for the theft.

“
Thinking back? Yeah, but at the time I
felt he
’
d learned his lesson. Kept his
hands to himself since then but the injury kept him from going on advanced
maneuvers with Talon and he blames me.

“
And why the interest in me, all of a
sudden?
”

“
Well,
”
Soar approaches, unsure
what to expect from her.
“
I was
—”

“
You were what?
”
her voice shakes but at least she keeps
it down. Soar pushes his wings forward, offering her comfort in their folds,
but she takes a step away.

“
I was wondering what Sky told you.
”

“
She said if I could prove myself in three
months I might be able to come back,
”
Cloud doesn
’
t retreat further, instead she steps in
looking hurt, tired and fragile.

“
Is that what you want?
”

She drops her chin in a sharp nod then
meets his stare.

“
I have an assignment for you, Cloud. We
can help each other out,
”
his fingers touch just
below her chin, tipping it up to his before finding his way around under her
ear and toward the back of her neck. She
’
d
let him touch her ear once and in those seconds he memorized every notch in its
scarred, jagged edge.

Now she
’
s close, too close, and he can
’
t help himself. He avoids the scars but
thumbs the lobe on his way by.
“
Hm?
”

“
Cloud? I missed you at
—”
Hunter stumbles to a stop at the sight of
her so near his brother.

“
Hunter,
”
she says as she jumps
clear of Soar.

“
I just came to check on you,
”
Hunter says but his light mood has turned
to a scowl for his older sibling.

“
I...
uh,
”
Cloud stammers. She has to
remember Sky
’
s instructions about keeping
her mouth shut for a week.
“
I
’
m
going away for a couple of days.
”

Jesus, the kid
’
s a good actor. With his arms crossed he
’
s the very image of the newly winged,
angry, seven year old gryphon Soar recalls trying so hard to understand why his
favourite brother is leaving and he can
’
t
go along. Hunter keeps his mouth shut and Soar recognizes the flush in Cloud
’
s cheeks. She squirms inside as she comes
up with a plausible explanation for
Hunter.

“
I
’
m meeting Talon for a night exercise.
”

Good try, Cloud, but he knows Talon isn
’
t here.

The way Hunter
’
s eyes roll to the ceiling shows he reacts
more to the sight of Cloud and Soar than he pretends to be pissed. What had he
seen? Soar had been reaching for the back of her neck like her lover would.
Instinct made him seek the soft spots beneath her hair where his touch would
calm her.

“
You
’
re a shitty liar, Cloud,
”
Hunter
blurts out. He
’
s jealous and more attached to
Cloud than he ever let on.
“
You
’
re
going somewhere with him.
”

“
No
—”

“
He can
’
t keep a female in his life for more than
a month and when you figure out why
don
’
t
come looking for me,
”
Hunter
’
s arms shake in spite of the
firm hold he has on himself.
“
I
’
m
sick of his hand-me-downs.
”

Hunter spins on his heel so fast he
almost bolts into the wall as he storms from Cloud
’
s
den.

But Cloud turns on Soar before the
curtain falls shut.

“
A month?
”
she
demands and smacks his wing aside as he tries to draw her near again.
“
I gave you two years. Let me correct
that. I gave you two years of nights in your den when you were everything. Two
years of you not having time for me during the day when everyone else was
around and I bet not a single soul knew we
’
d ever been alone together.
”

“
I didn
’
t come here for you to take your problems
out on me,
”
Soar bites out to deflect the
sting of her temper.
“
I need a gryphon for a job and
you need to put a shine on your image.
”

Cloud
’
s mouth snaps shut but the smolder in her
gold flecked blue eyes promises danger, either to him or his heart and he doesn
’
t give a shit which as long as it means
she's going to come at him.